Welcome to The NextStage Expanded Awareness Society’s Newsletter for 29 March 2017!
- Some Housekeeping to get us started…
We’ve changed our online presence. We’re now DiscoverThePractice.com (read “Discover The Practice”) – The online home of The NextStage Expanded Awareness Society.We’re also sending out notifications as soon as blog posts go live. We’ll still offer roundups in our newsletter and check your spam/junk folders just in case. - Notes from Susan – April Holidays
April has Passover and May brings Beltane, also celebrated as May Day with Morris dancers and other rituals. It was a time of Bonfires and awakening of the earth with lots of fertility rites. The cattle and sheep were driven through the Beltane bonfire ashes to ensure their fertility. Men used to show their bravado by leaping over the flames. Fields were planted and sown with the bonfire ashes. - Joe – An Amazon Story (continued)
The first installment of Joe Della Rosa’s An Amazon Story appeared in our December 2016 newsletter. We left with Saniri asking Sorri if he, Saniri, was beautiful…Sorri awoke to find Saniri laying several feet from him, arms sprawled out to the side, legs stretched out behind him, his long thick tail gently swishing in the water of the flowing river. He thought the great caiman asleep until Saniri’s mouth opened for a toothy yawn that was more hiss than sigh.Sorri couldn’t remember falling asleep and wondered if he had slept. He remembered Saniri telling him to rest and that he, Saniri, would keep Sorri safe from predators.Sorri didn’t like the way Saniri said “predators”. Hearing Saniri’s promise, it reminded him of his People’s tales of Snake telling Bird to rest on him, Bird would be safe, and then Snake wrapping itself around Bird until Bird lived no more.“You have a question?” Saniri’s deep, grotto voice startled Sorri into a squatting position and Saniri laughed heartily. Sorri’s stomach grumbled loudly. “A very good question,” said Saniri. “What shall we do about breakfast?”
Saniri raised his head with slow, deliberate movements, and his eyes fixed onto Sorri. “Hmm? What ever shall we do?”
Sorri remembered Snake and Bird and it did not make him happy.
Saniri slowly lifted himself on all four legs and backed into the river, disappearing from sight. Sorri sighed and remained crouched as he glanced around. His canoe was right where he left it near the river. A canopy of rubber trees sheltered the quay from the sun. Flowering plants harmlessly clung to the rubber trees, reaching for the warm nurturing rays of the sun, reaching as Sorri reached for his mother the night before as she was taken. Sorri once thought that flowers and moss that grew on the rubber trees in the rainforest were actually part of the tree. That is until Uncle told him that the vibrant flowers and the elegant grey colored curly-moss were actually examples of rain-harvesting plants. Uncle new all about the plants near their village. He knew which plants to eat, which ones to stay away from, which ones could heal the sick, and which ones could be combined for certain rituals. Uncle would often remind Sorri that he would one day learn about all of the plants in the rainforest and take over the role of Harvester for the village. Sorri already had a pretty good knowledge of plants, mostly because he enjoyed the company of his uncle more than anyone else in the village. That and he loved plants.
Sorri was lost in his thoughts when the rustling of a tangle of lianas caught his attention. Out of the brush marched a large capybara followed by her four pups. The mother glanced at Sorri and seemed to nod as she led her litter down to the river for a drink and a swim. Just as they were about to reach the water, a ripple followed by a loud splash and an unceremonious thump announced the arrival of Saniri as he half slid, half flopped onto the shore with a large Arapaima in his jaws. The capybara pups scurried back behind their mother, whose hackles were raised like speartips down her back. She stared at Saniri as Saniri dropped the huge fish and stared back at her.
“Don’t worry, ChoCho,” said Saniri with a hearty laugh. “You know I only eat capybara on Lent.”
(more in future issues)Recent Blog Posts
- Old Habits and Old Tools – In parts of my life, I tend to get stuck. Some might call them old habits. It’s really that I will non-consciously repeat behaviors that aren’t particularly useful to me. The Practice has given me the tools I need to become aware of these behaviors, and as a result I […]
- May I run a level of awareness on you? – I never thought that I would find so many different uses for the Practice, but here I am, using it to make my relationship with my wife better. One of the many amazing benefits of marriage – and sticking with it through challenging times – is that you get watch […]
- Class/Book Notes – Lucid Dreaming and Shamanic Work, Part 2 – We put ourselves in the Circle. Enter from the Eastern Door. circle the fire once, always clockwise. When leaving, always Circle once, clockwise, then leave by the Western Door. [The is the second post in two part arc that started with Class/Book Notes – Lucid Dreaming and Shamanic Work, Part […]
- Cut the Cord – Making the decision to remove negative influences in your life is the same as actively committing to be better. To heal. To self-actualize. It’s like cutting the umbilical cord, as Joseph put it to me this weekend. I do not deserve negativity, and it gets in the way of all I want for my life. Cutting these people out of my life is Freedom. Cutting the cords of obligatory shame was much harder than I thought it would be. But several tools of The Practice helped me.
- Pay Attention – When I was a kid, my Mom used to tell me to “Pay attention!” quite a bit – usually when I was playing video games and ignoring her requests to do the dishes or clean my room. She wanted me to listen to her, and I was already a well-accomplished […]
As always, you can find all our blogposts on the ExpandedAwareness Blog page
- NextStage Expanded Awareness Society Happenings for April 2017
- Introduction to Drumming – This class will take place over a weekend. It starts at dusk on Friday night and concludes Sunday afternoon. Participants do get to sleep, etc., during this time, although some late night, early morning activity should be expected.
At dusk on the first night participants learn and engage in Drum Honoring Ceremonies. These are done to encourage people to become more familiar with their drums and to learn about Drum, also known as First Drum in some cultures. During and after these ceremonies participants will take part in Shamanic StoryTelling, all around Drum.
The following day is spent learning some basic Drumming Patterns. What patterns are taught depends on the participants and the energies present.
As day once again turns to night, participants will engage in a DrumWaking or DrumOpening Ceremony. The purpose of this ceremony is to allow Drum to come into the participants’ drums and bring them to life for sacred and shamanic purposes.
Now, well into night of the second day, all present participate in a TalkingDrum Ceremony, wherein the spirit of Drum in each instrument communicates with the others and with the drummers (what some cultures call “Singers”) as well.
Finally, participants gather on the last day’s morning to recount and share their separate and community experiences. Much time is spent during the second day’s learnings to share and rest as well.
Friday, April 14 @ 5:00 pm – Sunday, April 16 @ 4:00 pm EDT : $1999 - Have you read Empty Sky? It’s the story of a young boy and his dog who are asked to save the world’s dreams, but to do so they must each make a sacrifice. What would you sacrifice to keep hope alive?
- You can learn about NextStage Expanded Awareness Society happenings via our NextStage Expanded Awareness Society feed
- Like, Love, Link, Befriend and Follow NextStage Expanded Awareness Society!
- Have you read Tales Told ‘Round Celestial Campfires? It’s a collection of short stories, some of which are based on experiences in The Practice. Email us if you can figure out which ones are Practice related.
- We’ve also published some short stories for the Kindle. You can find all of Joseph’s writings on his Amazon Author Page and please say hello on Goodreads.
- Introduction to Drumming – This class will take place over a weekend. It starts at dusk on Friday night and concludes Sunday afternoon. Participants do get to sleep, etc., during this time, although some late night, early morning activity should be expected.
That’s all. See you next time.
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Thanks for reading and sharing.
See you soon!
NextStage Expanded Awareness Society